Hijacking the Zika virus to kill cancer cells

The Zika virus, known as a threat to humanity, has emerged as an alternative oncolytic agent. A study published in Cancer Research Communications destroyed neuroblastomas in mice with great efficacy, increasing the animals’ survival.

Discovered in 1947, Zika virus (ZIKV) is a 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐨-𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐮𝐬 that can cause microcephaly and other congenital malformations in fetuses. Many researchers have already suggested 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐙𝐈𝐊𝐕’𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 in the 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚, which is the most frequent cancer in infants. The 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐰, and the therapy is associated with serious side effects.

In this study, experiments were conducted on 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐬. One group was treated with ZIKV and the other one with placebo. The results showed that 𝐙𝐈𝐊𝐕 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐬 without recurrence and with 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬. In addition, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 of the ZIKV-treated mice 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝.

Several studies have demonstrated 𝐙𝐈𝐊𝐕’𝐬 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐜𝐲 against other tumor types, opening 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. Clinical trials are likely to follow in the next few years.